


Same Dark Places

by SonoftheSun



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Abuse, Adorable Bruce Banner, Adorable Thor (Marvel), Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorder, Bruce & Hulk Interaction, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Feels, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Bruce Has Issues, Child Abuse, Depression, Drug Abuse, Drugs, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family, Family Drama, Family Issues, Friends to Lovers, High School, Homework, Hulk AU, Introvert falls for an Extrovert, Love, M/M, Marvel Universe, Math, Multi, Nerdiness, Nick Fury - Freeform, Opposites Attract, Principle Nick Fury, Schoolwork, Science, Teen Romance, Teenagers, Theater - Freeform, Thor is a Theater Kid, another high school au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-06-28 20:39:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15714690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonoftheSun/pseuds/SonoftheSun
Summary: “We were all heading for each other on a collision course, no matter what. Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.”-Jandy Nelson





	Same Dark Places

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Y'all! I know this is yet ANOTHER High School AU fic, but I really struggled to find any that applied to Thor and Bruce, so I thought I'd make one!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unplanned birth, a quaking mother, and a drunk husband. This is how it all begins.

When Rebecca, wife of Dr. Brian Banner found out she was pregnant, her world, that thin paper box of reality she tried so hard to keep intact, shattered into oblivion.

"Brian..." Rebecca's lip quivered as she tried to utter out those fatal two words. She couldn't bring herself to squeak them out. Her tongue refused to move and form the sentence that would change their lives forever. Fear swallowed her eyes, and she tried desperately to quell their conspicuous behavior. As discreetly as she could, she scanned her husband's body language to see if he could detect her own. He was sluggish. Her husband's brow furrowed as his dark brown eyes gazed at his wife quivering like a scared puppy. Brian loosened up and let out a heavy sigh. Rebecca could smell it in his breath. He'd been drinking at the lab again. 

Brian returned to his irritated position as her husband pushed his slick onyx hair out his eyes. He slurred a bit. "Jus-Fuckin' spit it out...A'righ' Beck?"

Rebecca trembled like a quaking in the earth had shaken her slightly. Her husband's serene behavior was a hollow peace. Her eyes were squinting at him before she let out a huff and begin to turn. "You're drunk, Brian. Come back to me when you are sober, and we'll discuss this. Understood?!" Rebecca turned on her heel and began to head down to the bathroom before her husband let out a cry behind her.

"Dontchu walk away from me woman!" Brian lurched forward, stumbling as he latched onto Rebecca's right arm. She shrieked with great vivacity and flailed wildly to try to detach her husband from her arm.

"BRIAN LET GO OF ME!" She shrieked, trying to pull herself away from his clenching grasp as a trapped animal. Tears streamed down the woman's face, pleading her husband to let go of her. 

"I LET YOU GO WHEN YA FUCKIN' TELL ME WHA'S GOIN' ON!" His right hand, once a dead limb from intoxication, reaches across and beats her across her cheek. A red mark accompanied by a sharp sting in her face is the only evidence of the lightning fast, violent gesture. Rebecca cried out again as her husband's palm comes across her cheek. She wobbles a bit, and Brian grabs her left shoulder with his right hand, seizing her moment of disarray to gain the upper hand. His hands drove into her soft pale flesh like a vice, crushing her inwards, as if she were an aluminum can. 

Brian's once slicked back hair was disheveled, sparse hairs branching in different directions. His face was flush with red, eyes embellished with an intoxicated fury. He stared at his wife with those enraged eyes, air huffing out of his nostrils. Beck looked at her husband. He lacked almost all human qualities. He was now an animal, a predator towering above its prey. 

"Now." He spoke in an alarmingly calm tone. "Yer gonna tell me wha's goin' on. 'Kay Beck?" The scent of alcohol permeated his speech. It was a slap in the woman's face. All her life, she ran from the clutches of alcoholism. Her grandfather, her father, her sister, and now, her husband. All had slipped away into the addiction.

Rebecca shuddered, she couldn't tell him, not now. Not under the influence. It was a death wish. Ignoring the sharp pain from her husband's fingers piercing her skin she frantically searched for a lie. Brian was easier to trick under the influence for obvious reasons, but she had to be careful, so so careful. Fear enveloped her, desperation grasped her conscious, and she spouted the first lie that grazed her mind. 

"T-The Morrisons. They got a new dog." Rebecca felt the life drain from her body, with this fabrication she had sealed her fate.

Brian cocked his head lazily at his wife. "Eh? New dog? Better no' be a chattahbox like tha las' one." And with that Rebecca's freedom was restored. The iron grip upon her shoulders which held her prisoner in her own home loosened and Brian shuffled into the kitchen calmly. The silence was false tranquility. Rebecca scurried into the bedroom, wading through the clothes strewn about their living space. The television buzzed on, and she peeked her head down the hallway. Brian was sprawled out on the sofa, nursing a beer bottle between his lips. She breathed a sigh of relief. Rebecca had never fled the house to escape from her husband's abusive tendencies, but she had formulated many plans for how to. 

Rebecca sat on the bed, hastily flipping through a magazine. Every so often she would punctually peep her head down the hallway to catch a glance at her husband. Her hands were damp, taking a respite from reading the magazine to wipe them on her simple grey dress. Her breaths were quick and heavy, her heart pounding with such magnitude it seems its incessant pulsing would soon consume her whole body. A sudden wave of fear and anxiety washed over her thoughts. She bolted off the bed and darted for the closet, pause for locking the bedroom door before flinging open the closet. Digging through the mass of assorted junk that litters the floor, Rebecca unearths a black duffel in the back corner. Silently, she unzipped the duffel and poked through its contents. Everything was the same. The food, clothing, and utilities, all of them nestled as she left them four months ago. 

Rebecca emerged from her enclave seeing now Brian had slipped under his drink. She tiptoed by her unconscious husband and prepared to start on dinner. She had to keep on the mask that nothing was wrong. Let it slip off, and it may be her last mistake. He mind ran awash with fleeting thoughts of agony and dread. She couldn't tell him while he was under the influence. His fits of inebriated rage were too uncontrollable. By the time she had finished dinner, she had her plan.

Her feeble lie would not hold. Not for long at least. 


End file.
